August 8 - Isaiah 59:1-15a

August 8 – Isaiah 59:1-15a

Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters wicked things. No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments and speak lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil. They hatch the eggs of vipers and spin a spider’s web. Whoever eats their eggs will die, and when one is broken, an adder is hatched. Their cobwebs are useless for clothing; they cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their deeds are evil deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands. Their feet rush into sin; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are evil thoughts; ruin and destruction mark their ways. The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths. They have turned them into crooked roads; no one who walks in them will know peace.

So justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows. Like the blind we grope along the wall, feeling our way like men without eyes. At midday we stumble as if it were twilight; among the strong, we are like the dead. We all growl like bears; we moan mournfully like doves. We look for justice, but find none; for deliverance, but it is far away.

For our offenses are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us. Our offenses are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities: rebellion and treachery against the LORD, turning our backs on our God, fomenting oppression and revolt, uttering lies our hearts have conceived. So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter. Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.

I don’t know about you, but this stuff starts wearing me out!  Continually going on and on and on about the sins of the Israelites.  It is a good thing that God is eternal … not only were His people dealing in injustice, but it has actually never stopped!

Look at the things He accuses them of doing now!  Their hands are stained with blood – probably not literally, but think of the number of times you have hurt someone.  We still walk through a lot of our relationships wounding each other and walking away with our hands permanently stained with their life-blood.

Their fingers are stained with guilt.  I always told my mother that for a non-Catholic, she was a master of guilt.  Oh my goodness!  I grew up bathed in the stuff.  But, for all of that, my guilt comes from myself – I know when I have done wrong by someone else and I am guilty.

Their tongues mutter wicked things.  Enough said?  Enough said.

No one calls for justice.  I can hardly move past this sentence.  The thing is – our justice is rarely the Lord’s justice.  We call for this, but we don’t have a clue what it is that the Lord wants when it comes to justice.  His is righteous, ours is petty. 

Go on in the scripture, “No one pleads his case with integrity.”  People of integrity are hard to find.  Why?  Because self-interest always seems to win out over integrity. 

Empty arguments, speaking lies, conceiving trouble and giving birth to evil.  All of these things are a breeding ground for injustice.  We don’t spend enough time smoothing the pathway for God’s righteousness.  It is so much easier to mutter behind the curtain, stirring up trouble, asking for gossip, looking for issues where there are none.

In Isaiah 59:8, we read “The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths.  They have turned them into crooked roads; no one who walks in them will know peace.”

We must continually be on the lookout, watching ourselves, thinking of the needs of others before we think of ourselves.  It seems to be impossible, but justice, righteousness, truth and honesty are right there; we just have to give up our own lives to the Lord.